What's new
The Front Row Forums

Register a free account today to become a member of the world's largest Rugby League discussion forum! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!

New Zealand 2 will deal a massive blow to NZ rugby

warriors 95

Juniors
Messages
177
Yeah that’s who I was thinking of, it was either a podcast with Matthew Ridge or Graeme Lowe where the spoke about some of the names, think it was Zinny that even signed a contract before backing out.
I remember seeing it on a documentary style programme which followed Matthew ridge singing for Manly back in the early 90's.

It had John kirwan basically shadowing Ridge for his 1st season in league playing for Manly and the Kiwis.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
34,137
Ridge was a quality league player

Halligan was decent but his goal kicking at a time when 60 percent was the norm was the difference

Except for the missed goals when he was playing in the final vs Penrith and they lost due to them
 

Matiunz

Juniors
Messages
856
Ridge was a quality league player

Halligan was decent but his goal kicking at a time when 60 percent was the norm was the difference

Except for the missed goals when he was playing in the final vs Penrith and they lost due to them
Yeah Halligan played way more games than he realistically should have due to goal kicking, was the days where you could get away with ‘hiding’ someone on the wing. Defensively he was ok but wasn’t anything other than serviceable on the wing.
 

warriors 95

Juniors
Messages
177
Ridge was a quality league player

Halligan was decent but his goal kicking at a time when 60 percent was the norm was the difference

Except for the missed goals when he was playing in the final vs Penrith and they lost due to them
He was a great defensive fullback from that era but the style of the game changed dramatically towards the end of the 90's with the introduction of more attacking fullbacks with the likes of the Paul bros and Ritchie barnett etc for the Kiwis alone.
 

Matiunz

Juniors
Messages
856
Rugby league juniors in nz are collapsing

I swear they are

I live in nz trust me !
To be fair the big argument was league was struggling at grass roots in the regions and needed strong admin and systems to turn it around, many regions had very little if any of a league scene. Even the articles posted state that some of these completions and tournaments didn’t exist a couple of years ago, the Otago one stated no junior comps the year prior and no teams south of Rotorua competing at the high level.
Fantastic to see some solid inroads being made, particularly in places like Otago which hasn’t traditionally seen much league but would add another partner to a SI bid. It’s all good to have participants but will need solid systems to develop those players to a better quality than they have previously been, the lower north island still remains an under utilised region which would be great to see some briars made there too
 

Matiunz

Juniors
Messages
856
He was a great defensive fullback from that era but the style of the game changed dramatically towards the end of the 90's with the introduction of more attacking fullbacks with the likes of the Paul bros and Ritchie barnett etc for the Kiwis alone.
Ah the Paul bros- speaking of ones that got away from the Warriors, letting them go was a tragedy, especially as we got ‘payday’ players like Betts and Platt in return…
 

warriors 95

Juniors
Messages
177
Ah the Paul bros- speaking of ones that got away from the Warriors, letting them go was a tragedy, especially as we got ‘payday’ players like Betts and Platt in return…
Think that was just for Henry and not Robbie.

Wigan definitely got the best part of that deal.
 

Wb1234

Immortal
Messages
34,137
To be fair the big argument was league was struggling at grass roots in the regions and needed strong admin and systems to turn it around, many regions had very little if any of a league scene. Even the articles posted state that some of these completions and tournaments didn’t exist a couple of years ago, the Otago one stated no junior comps the year prior and no teams south of Rotorua competing at the high level.
Fantastic to see some solid inroads being made, particularly in places like Otago which hasn’t traditionally seen much league but would add another partner to a SI bid. It’s all good to have participants but will need solid systems to develop those players to a better quality than they have previously been, the lower north island still remains an under utilised region which would be great to see some briars made there too
Warriors doing one pilot program leads to 40 percent more juniors in Otago shows the potential

I genuinely don’t think getting kids to play league is the issue if they have another nrl team and Aussie scouts spend more time in nz etc
 

warriors 95

Juniors
Messages
177
Warriors doing one pilot program leads to 40 percent more juniors in Otago shows the potential

I genuinely don’t think getting kids to play league is the issue if they have another nrl team and Aussie scouts spend more time in nz etc
I'm mean seriously how hard is it for the NRL to figure out that putting south island teams into the SG ball and Jersey flegg competitions will benefit the game immensely in both NZ and Australia irrespective of the south island getting a NRL team or not.
 

Dark Corner

Juniors
Messages
1,599
I remember seeing it on a documentary style programme which followed Matthew ridge singing for Manly back in the early 90's.

It had John kirwan basically shadowing Ridge for his 1st season in league playing for Manly and the Kiwis.
Yeah saw that kast year on YouTube.....good little piece.
 

Latest posts

Top